The current release of Hogwarts Legacy makes me wonder what other franchises might need the open-world treatment. If I’ve learned anything from my first few hours in Hogwarts Legacy, taking a well-known franchise and putting it into an open world filled with exciting things to do makes a great game. Many famous franchises have tried this and failed because more goes into making a great game than just making it open world. Hogwarts Legacy makes players feel like they are actually in the wizarding world! A successful open-world game does more than just play out famous scenes from the movies or books. Looking past the few failed attempts at this, here is my list of franchises that need a fully fleshed-out open-world game.
Transformers
With movies, comics, books, TV shows, card games and toys, Transformers is a gigantic brand. The Transformers franchise already has a few video games, but none are as significant or exciting as they could be. It would be nice to have a large open-world single-player game similar to Hogwarts Legacy. The thought of running around as a giant robot, transforming into a sports car, and taking off down the freeway sounds epic.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is begging to have some AAA money thrown at it for a large-scale video game. The lore behind Avatar runs very deep, especially for a kid’s show that aired on Nickelodeon. There is plenty of material to make a large open-world game. Like Hogwarts Legacy’s four houses, choosing between the elements to bend (earth, water, fire, air) would be incredible. With more tv shows and movies coming out from this franchise, it would be great to have a development studio get working on this game now!
Fairytail
I’m sure you could place almost any anime/manga on this list, but as my all-time favorite, Fairytail is my pick. Fairytail is about wizards who join guilds to take quests for money, which already sounds like a great video game premise right there. The kingdom of Fiore would make an incredible open world to roam around and explore. With many manga books and anime episodes to pull characters from, it would be easy to fill the world out.
Pirates of the Caribbean
With several billion-dollar movies, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise proves it’s a force to be reckoned with. Although there haven’t been many video game adaptations, Pirates of the Caribbean has earned its right to be given the opportunity at a AAA open-world game. This game could be massive if it revolved around purchasing and upgrading your ship to sail the seven seas in search of treasure. Adding some PvP elements into the game where other players could steal your treasure would be a cherry on top.
The Simpsons
As the longest-running animated show, the Simpsons franchise could use an open-world video game adaptation. Most of these open-world games are fun because they are filled with things to do. The Simpsons have years of lore established, giving the player many great destinations and locations to visit. Could you imagine having a job in the town of Springfield and having to purchase a house and upgrade it? This could be a 100+ hour video game with the amount of content you could pull from the TV series.
Plenty of franchises could benefit from an open-world AAA video game like Hogwarts Legacy. I’ve named a few here, but what else might make the list? Let us know in the comments! Until then, enjoy your time in The Wizarding World of Hogwarts Legacy, out February 10th, 2023.
2 Responses
They have a bunch of Star Wars open world titles, what about Star Trek?
Maybe a Jurassic Park open world survival type game ? Ark doesn’t count